A Language Carried Forward

Inside the library at Puente de Hózhó Elementary School in Flagstaff, young voices rise with confidence. One by one, students step forward and introduce themselves in Diné, sharing their names, their clans and the stories that connect them to generations before them. For the families gathered in the room, the moment is about far more than public speaking. Language here is identity, memory and belonging. It is the thread that ties children to grandparents, to homeland and to traditions that stretch far beyond a classroom. That sense of meaning sits at the heart of Puente de Hózhó’s work and of a growing partnership supported by the Arizona Community Foundation. 

For Martha Ward Blue, hearing those students speak brought her back decades. “I felt like I had come home,” she said. “Those were some of the best years of my life, hearing Navajo spoken every day.” Blue spent her early career as an attorney working on the Navajo Nation during the Indian Civil Rights Movement, where many of the people she served spoke only Navajo. Through interpreters, client meetings and years of living and working in community, she came to understand not only the beauty of the language but the deep cultural knowledge it carries. Those experiences shaped her life and continue to shape her giving.

For Blue, preserving the Navajo language and honoring Diné culture is deeply personal. As she began thinking about her legacy, she wanted to ensure that the traditions, stories and language that shaped her life would continue to thrive for generations to come. She chose to formalize a planned gift through the Arizona Community Foundation, trusting the organization’s stewardship and local expertise to help guide that vision forward. Through ACF, her legacy will support initiatives that strengthen Navajo language revitalization and cultural preservation, ensuring that the Diné voice, history and identity remain strong in the years ahead. 

That vision finds a natural home at Puente de Hózhó, a school built on the belief that students’ first languages are strengths, not barriers. Through a bilingual model that includes Diné, Spanish and English, students are encouraged to grow academically while staying rooted in who they are.  

Jillian Hernandez, the school’s International Baccalaureate Coordinator, says that is what makes the school so special. “When students come here, they are seen and honored for who they are,” she said. “Their language, their culture, their family stories, those are all part of the learning.” At Puente de Hózhó, education is not separated from culture. It is enriched by it. The school’s very name reflects that commitment, drawing on the Diné concept of hózhó, a sense of harmony, balance and beauty that shapes both identity and learning. Hernandez sees the impact every day. “When students understand their identity and their culture,” she said, “they begin to understand their power.”

Families are central to that work. Many of the school’s cultural events, including the Navajo Speaking Bee, are led and organized by parents who want their children to experience language as something living, shared and celebrated. For parent Rosanna Jumbo-Fitch, that was one of the reasons Puente de Hózhó mattered so deeply to her family.  

“Language has always been the number one priority in our family,” she said. “When you say your clans, you’re telling people where you come from and who you represent.” For families raising children away from the reservation, programs like these help keep culture close. They offer children more than fluency. They offer belonging. 

That is what legacy looks like in this space: children speaking with confidence, families carrying tradition forward and a community coming together to make sure language endures. Support from donors and the Arizona Community Foundation helps create those opportunities, strengthening the partnerships between schools, families and community leaders that make this work possible. Blue hopes that long after she is gone, young people will keep speaking Diné with pride. In rooms like this one in Flagstaff, that future is already taking shape.  

You can help support innovative education programs like those at Puente de Hózhó. A gift to the Arizona Community Foundation’s Education Innovation Fund helps expand opportunities for students across Arizona, strengthening literacy, cultural learning and community-centered education for the next generation. Donate today and invest in the future of Arizona’s students.